Battlefield 2142 multiplayer beta impressions

More certain than death and taxes, the next instalment in the Battlefield series is almost upon us, and perhaps to celebrate the fact, DICE and EA opened the floodgates for a little while to let 10,000 of the great unwashed (including yours truly) sample what this latest entry has in store.

Set in the middle of the next century, Battlefield 2142 depicts a desperate struggle between two superpowers, the European Union and a bunch of Eastern upstarts going by the moniker Pan Asian Coalition. Up for grabs is no less than planet Earth, which finds itself in the cold, clammy grip of a new Ice Age. The back story is, of course, merely incidental, playing second fiddle to the warring dynamic between the two factions, so let’s move quickly on.

One of the biggest changes touted for BF2142 is the introduction of the Titan mode, and as luck would have it, it just happened to feature in the beta. In essence, it’s similar to Conquest in that you have to capture and hold a number of choke points.

The kicker, though, is that instead of depleting the enemy team’s tickets, the objective is to destroy the enemy team’s Titan, a gargantuan, hovering ship that serves as a main base. This can only be achieved by removing its shields with missiles launched from capture points, and the more capture points you hold the faster you can do this, after which you can lead an assault team into its bowels to blow the reactor.

French Fancy

A solitary map was included in the beta, taking its name from the Gallic city of Verdun. It was a sprawling, diverse affair encompassing open countryside as well as a bombed out, ruined settlement bordering the shattered remains of the Maginot Wall, a towering defensive fortification that stretched across the map.

Perhaps it was just my unfamiliarity with the scenario, but one thing that immediately struck me was that there was more space between capture points than in most maps in Battlefield 2. This lent the level a welcome, open feel, and it was something that sat very well with the zoom function on the main armaments of the PAC’s hover tank and the EU’s futuristic main battle tank.

Giant shell craters punctuated the map’s tundra-like landscape, and they could be used as makeshift trenches for sniping or sometimes they would swallow a buggy whole if the driver wasn’t looking where they were going.

Tanks for the Memories

Errant driving isn’t something that should occur too often though, as the vehicles remain as joyfully easy to control as they’ve been in previous games, with the slight exception of the hover tank. This levitating monstrosity actually allows you to strafe with the A and D keys, and while it’s not exactly nimble, its lateral movement can save your bacon in exchanges of fire with distant enemies. It does have one major drawback though, namely that its turret is fixed, so if someone gets in close you are easy prey.

Fast transport was provided by buggy and by a pair of airborne vehicles, with the latter owing a complimentary nod in the looks department to the drop ship from Aliens. There were no surprises as far as the buggy was concerned; it was quick, it was agile, and it had a roof mounted weapon for a passenger to spray and pray as you whizzed across the map.

Some boffin types have predicted that manned military aircraft will be obsolete by the middle of the next century, but that would be no fun, so BF2142 continues the happy tradition of putting player in airborne death machine.

The two flying vehicles on show in the beta were like hybrids of the jets and attack copters from BF2, which meant that they weren’t as fast as the jets, but were highly manoeuvrable, so you could plop them down pretty much anywhere you wanted. One of them was equipped with air to ground missiles accessible from the pilot’s position, while the other functioned more as a troop transport, but had a couple of Gatling guns on either side to dissuade any enemy from getting too intimate.

Twenty Seconds to Comply

Undoubtedly, the star of the show as far as the vehicles were concerned was the towering Battle Walker. Looking something like Robocop's ED-209 on steroids, it was a lumbering behemoth that could go toe-to-toe with anything else on the field and emerge standing on two feet. As a consequence, it was the most in-demand vehicle, and I didn’t get the chance to experience it first hand during my entire play test, except from the business end. One small consolation however, is that all its stomping generates a lot of noise, so you are given plenty of warning that it is coming your way.

Infantry combat feels similar to that of BF2, and I spent almost all of my time on foot as the assault class, whose main weapon is an assault rifle that kicks up a satisfying amount of debris when you pepper the ground or buildings. Attacking the scenery won’t win you any medals though, so it comes equipped with a secondary zoom function for sniping. The other items on offer to the class include a pistol and a health pack, which you throw on the ground and it replenishes the health of any nearby wounded friendly.

Icon See for Miles

While there’s been little fanfare to accompany it, the HUD has received a bit of an overhaul, one of the most significant changes to which is the introduction of a radial capture point status indicator that’s centered on your gun reticule. It’s a small change, but it means that you can see at a glance which capture points are under your team’s control without having to spin round or look at the mini-map or the large map.

DICE seems to have taken note of the fact that most players appreciate a breakdown of their performance at the end of a round, as it's taken that aspect to new levels. Now, you can see exactly how you’ve fared compared to other players in your favoured vehicle, while you also get a rating for your performance with your most used kit.

Its wrap up time, and I’ve a confession to make. You see, I was one of those doubters who poured scorn on the idea that DICE could warp so far along the series’ timeline and make a go of it. Having played the beta, I’ll gladly eat my words, and even go so far as to predict that this’ll be the biggest and best game in the franchise yet.